Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 review

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Two minute review

The Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 is one of the first products to emerge from a collaboration between Samsung and Intel that aims to create the same kind of relationship between laptops and mobile phones that you get with the Samsung ecosystem. Manzana. To get the most out of your laptop and phone, you need a Galaxy smartphone. The Your Phone app also works with other Android phones and iPhones, but the latter wasn't a great experience. However, if you already own a Galaxy phone, Galaxy Buds Pro, and Galaxy Tab, the Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 is a great choice for your next laptop. The Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 is a compact, lightweight and premium device. The screen can be folded on all sides to lay flat on the back of the keyboard, turning the hardware into a tablet-like device. We still think a dedicated tablet is better than that, but as an occasional tablet, the device performs quite well, and it's also much thinner than competing devices that try the 360-degree hinge trick. The Galaxy Book Pro 360 offers a Thunderbolt 4 port, a pair of USB-C connectors, a traditional headphone jack, and a microSD slot. An S-Pen stylus is also included. The stylus is black and plastic, and doesn't look particularly high-end, but it works great for writing and drawing, though Windows' palm rejection could be a lot better. What could also be improved is the mediocre webcam, which is a modest 720p effort. The AMOLED screen with Full HD resolution, on the other hand, offers excellent color reproduction and excellent contrast. It's a very nice screen overall, though it doesn't hold up well in direct sunlight. The keyboard is also incredibly good, it's big and responsive, and the speakers sound very impressive too. Battery life is good enough for everyday use, and performance is good enough, too, though not quite on the same level as the HP Specter x360 (2021) (or even the MacBook Air with M1). The Pro 360 is certainly a relatively speedy laptop that unlocks and starts right out of the box. Even if the device is completely turned off, the boot up and connection process only takes 8 seconds, which is great. In short, the Galaxy Book Pro 360 is a high-quality, premium 2-in-1 device. If you're sold on Samsung and the Galaxy series, this is a great buy.

(Image credit: Avenir)

• Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 at Samsung for € 1,199.99

Prices and availability

Technical sheet Here is the configuration of the Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 sent to TechRadar for review:
Processor: Intel Core i5-1135G7
Graphics: Intel Iris Xe Graphics
RAM: 8GB (LPDDR4x)
Display: 13,3-inch, 1920 x 1080 AMOLED touchscreen
Storage: 512GB (PCIe 3.0 SSD)
Ports: 2 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C, 1 x USB 4, 1 x Thunderbolt 4, 3,5mm headphone jack
Connectivity: Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.1
Camera: 720p webcam
Weight: 1,04Kg
Size: 302,5 x 202 x 11,5mm The Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 is available in several different configurations and price points. The entry-level model comes with an Intel Core i5-1135G7 processor, 8GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD, and starts at $1,599.99 (about $1,130 or AU$2,070). There is the option to upgrade the processor to an Intel Core i7-1165G7, and it is also possible to increase the screen size to 15,6 inches instead of 13,3 inches. Perhaps the most obvious alternative to the Galaxy Book Pro 360 is the HP Specter x360 (2021), which is a 2-in-1 with a 360-degree hinge plus touchscreen and similar performance on paper, starting at $1,349/ €1.199 / AU€3.339. The Galaxy Book Pro 360 will also be available in a model with built-in 5G support (and a SIM card slot), but that version won't launch until later this year.

(Image credit: Avenir)

Integrated

The first thing that struck us when we unboxed our Galaxy Book Pro 360 review machine was how small and neat it is, and how fantastically beautiful it is. The form factor and color ("Mystic Silver") are immediately reminiscent of the MacBook Air, but the Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 is slightly smaller and almost 300 grams lighter. It is a laptop in the true sense of the word. The Galaxy Book Pro 360 comes with a brushed silver metal frame if you go for the 13-inch model, and a navy color if you upgrade to the 15-inch model. As with the HP Specter x360 (2021), the screen can be folded on all sides to lay flat on top of the keyboard, turning the laptop into a tablet-like device. On the connectivity side, the Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 offers a Thunderbolt 4 port, a pair of USB-C ports, a classic headphone jack, and a microSD slot. Compared to the MacBook Air (M1, 2020), you get slightly better connectivity options, but not the full-size USB port offered by the HP Specter x360 (2021), which means you may still need a dongle for one. or two accessories. . At home. In addition to the travel adapter and USB-C cable, an S-Pen is also included in the box. The pen is black and plastic, unfortunately it doesn't have the same build or feel as the laptop. The S-Pen is magnetic and does stick to the laptop, but only at the top, which feels a bit odd. We would have preferred to see another solution or a storage place where the stylus could be stored. The placement of the Apple Pencil on the side of the iPad Pro is much more elegant.

(Image credit: Avenir) Opening the Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360, you're greeted with a bright, colorful screen. However, the frames are large and noticeable, especially the bottom frame, and especially when using the device as a tablet in portrait mode, when the black frame on the page looks downright ugly. But the overall feel of the laptop is still very modern and contemporary. The keyboard is comfortable and responsive, and the keys are large and backlit. It's a full-size keyboard with a fantastic feel, despite the very shallow keys. The power button doubles as a fingerprint reader and is also responsive, as is the large trackpad. Apart from the aforementioned bezels, the Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 is actually very stylish and is also incredibly comfortable to use. If you fold the screen completely and use the device as a tablet, the large touch screen works well. But despite the very slim nature of the Galaxy Book, the overall feel in this scenario still doesn't compare to using a real tablet, and the Samsung device is a bit heavier and bulkier. That said, compared to other 2-in-1s with 360-degree hinges, it's definitely in a class of its own for tablet use. Despite that less-than-ideal bottom frame, the Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 is arguably one of the sleekest, lightest, and premium laptops on the market today.

(Image credit: Techradar)

Performance

Benchmarks Here's how the Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 performed in our benchmark tests: Cinebench R20 processor: Single-core: 457; Multicore: 1769
Geekbench 5: single core: 1222; Multicore: 4995
Battery life (Technical Comparison movie test): 8 hours 13 minutes Samsung's Galaxy Book Pro 360 (and its sibling Galaxy Book Pro, which doesn't have a 360-degree foldable display) are the first products to emerge from a collaboration between Samsung and Intel, which aims to create a much closer relationship between laptops. and mobile phones. In other words, it's Samsung's attempt to get the equivalent of the near seamless connection you get with the Apple ecosystem and the experience of using an iPhone and a MacBook. And the Galaxy Book Pro models are also great for those who want a laptop that, in many ways, gives users the same experience as their phone. The Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 has a lot in common with a smartphone in terms of being able to unlock and go right away, always online, and having a smart battery that maximizes performance, not to mention being as portable as possible. And you really get that feeling with the Galaxy Book Pro 360. Even if the laptop is completely turned off, it only takes 8 seconds to boot up the computer and connect. It's just phenomenal. In addition to the quick start, the fingerprint reader makes the connection extremely fast. That said, if you're using the Galaxy Book in tablet mode, fingerprint login is more cumbersome, and in this case, it would have been nice to be able to unlock the laptop with facial recognition; but unfortunately this is not possible.

(Image credit: Avenir) Samsung has, of course, gone the extra mile to maximize the experience if you have a Galaxy smartphone, offering several ways to work with the two devices together. Your Galaxy phone has the "Link to Windows" feature and the Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 has the Your Phone app, which connects to your smartphone so you can send and receive text messages, make calls, browse photos in the gallery and even use (up to five of) the phone's desktop apps. The Your Phone app also works with other Android phones and iPhones, but the latter isn't a great experience. The necessary software for the iPhone is not yet available in our country, and the solution offered instead focuses only on being able to send the web pages you read in Edge on the phone to the laptop. In other words, if you want to take full advantage of this phone-laptop synergy, you need to have a Samsung Galaxy phone, and it seems like that's the main target audience for the Galaxy Book Pro 360. What if I haven't just made a phone? Galaxy, if not Galaxy Buds Pro and Galaxy Tab, well, the Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 has fantastic potential for your next laptop. That being said, the features for a seamless experience between phone and computer are still not on par with iOS and macOS. Moving forward, we can see Samsung, Intel, and Microsoft working hard to create a fully unified experience reminiscent of what Apple users have today, but there's still a long way to go.

(Image credit: Avenir) For everyday use, the Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 does well when it comes to performance issues. There was no noticeable slowdown when performing multiple...